Sealed Part 1
by Tinni93
Summary: Jayden struggles with his secret he is hiding from the team, meanwhile Emily's status as a ranger is called into question when she makes a major mistake. In the Sanzu River Dayu tries to make her feelings for Deker hidden from Master Xandred.
1. Chapter 1

**Sealed**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Power Rangers in any way, shape or form.**

The moon hung high in the sky, shining beams of light hitting the Shiba household. The rangers slept comfortably in their beds, enjoying what little time not spent battling Nighloks or training to sleep. All seemed well with the rangers, save for one. Jayden wasn't in his bed like the others. Instead he stood firm and still in the outer training area, deep in focus. His eyes were closed in thought. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his Samuraizer. Saying nothing and opening his eyes, he threw the morpher open, drawing a complex red symbol in the air in front of him. He hesitated for a moment, inhaling deeply and then slowly exhaling. Jayden then glared at the symbol before hitting it as hard as he could with a grunt of effort. Upon doing so a large black gash appeared in the space in front of him. He remained still as a large gush of wind blew from behind him. Immediately feeling the draining effects of using Symbol Power, he forced himself to stay standing. His arm holding the Samuraizer was still firmly extended. When he felt himself begin to slip, he grasped the object even harder, digging his feet into the ground. The sounds he made were hard breaths that soon turned into a loud scream of determination. A moment later, a black crackle of electricity emerged from the gap and zapped Jayden, violently throwing him backwards. He landed hard on the gravel beneath him and rolled to a stop. Groaning, he forced himself to sit up, not surprised at the results he had just experienced.

"Why…why can't I get the hang of this sealing Symbol Power?" he thought to himself.

He mustered enough strength to stand, grabbing his left arm that he had just landed on. When he stood he found himself facing the opposite direction from where he had started. There, he saw the five easels he and his team used to practice their Symbol Power. Mike's green symbols with the power of the forest, Mia's pink symbol that signified the sky, Kevin's blue markings with the fluid power of water and Emily's yellow etchings for her earthly powers. He felt himself smile. But thoughts soon after made it fade just as quickly as it came.

"They all work so hard to protect me, and yet I continue to lie to them." Jayden said sadly to himself. "But…if I don't do this, someone else would. And I refuse to let someone else carry this burden. It's my destiny."

Suddenly he felt rage fill his body. "All of this is because of _him_." He said in disgust. _He_ being none other than the lord of the Nighloks Master Xandred. Jayden then picked up his Samuraizer and gazed at it. "I am going to master this power and finally seal him away for good." He looked forward at the easels once more. "No matter what."

The red ranger then drew the red symbol in the air in front of him again and smacked it. Unfortunately, he found himself being hurled through the air, receiving the same results as his previous attempt. He crashed down into the gravel on his back. His Samuraizer clattering down beside him. Too exhausted to even move his arms to retrieve it, he simple just looked at it in shame. All he could do was lie there and try to catch his breath.

The next morning was hot and muggy. The high humidity in the air signified that rain was coming at any moment. Clouds speckled across the sky fading from grey to white. The rangers were in the middle of a grueling training session with one another with their katana props. They jumped and ducked the blows that their opponents were dealing in swift ease, it was clear the fruits of their labors were paying off. A few minutes later, Master Ji came in holding a music box sized oak case.

"Can I please have your attention, rangers?" He asked, his students immediately halting their training and running over to him.

"Ooh, looks like something sweet is hiding in there!" Mike said, grabbing for the box and trying to lift the lid. Ji swatted his hand in response. "Ow…" Mike whined.

"Soooo, what's inside?" Emily asked, trying to contain her excitement.

"Your next lesson." Ji answered, flipping the golden latch open, revealing six glass orbs, one each in color for the rangers. The spheres where translucent with sparkles on the inside. Each was the size of a baseball. Ji nodded at the rangers, signaling it was now okay for them to take their orb from the box. Mike hedged as he reached for his in fear of being slapped again, so he grabbed it from the box as quickly as he could.

"How pretty!" Mia observed, looking at her orb in awe.

"What are these, Mentor?" Kevin asked, ready for any use the mentor would tell him.

"These are called your Samurai Globes. They're to help take your training to the next level. These orbs contain a great power that, in time, will be yours to claim." Mentor Ji explained to his eager students.

Antonio looked at his orb in confusion, he, unlike Mia, didn't think they looked so intimidating. "Ummm…no offense, Mentor but, how are these globes going to escalate our Samurai training?"

"Seriously," Mike chimed in, "it feels like its going to break right in my hands."

"That's because they _will_ if you don't know how to use them properly. Ji explained, he then reached out a hand to Mike. "Your globe please."

"Okay, sure…" Mike said, hesitantly handing his jade colored orb to Ji.

"Now, show me what you've got." Ji added with a small smirk. Mike smiled in honor and nodded. He always loved a good sparring match, especially with the mentor.

The spar began with Mike throwing a punch at Ji's face, which Ji dodged with fluid-like motion. The green then answered with a spin kick that flew right over his mentor's head. He continued to try and land any sort of blow onto Ji. And before Mike could even do his next move, Ji threw the orb into the air with such grace, then flipped Mike over onto his back, then catching the orb in his hand—out of the ranger's line of sight.

"Did it break?" Jayden asked in pure amazement.

"It had too!" Emily exclaimed.

Ji remained silent with a grin on his face. He turned towards the rangers and pulled the orb from behind his back and showed it to the rangers. It was in pure mint condition.

"Wow. Mentor you're amazing." Jayden said with an approving smile, extending a hand to the defeated green ranger.

"You said it, Jayden." Mike said, grabbing the red ranger's hand and standing. "He dodged every one of my moves without even getting a nick in my globe."

Ji then handed Mike back his globe. "Thank you, rangers. You see, in battle, there's always something that needs to be protected. Whether it's a teammate, or something as simple as this globe—and the only way you can do that is to be in perfect sync with your physical and mental rhythms."

Emily simply looked amazed and walked over to Mike, closely examining his green globe. "It's flawless, and you didn't even break a sweat." She said. "You're so in harmony with yourself."

"That is exactly your test, Emily. You and the rangers will go into the forest and train until you can master the protection of your globes." Ji told them.

"Why in the forest?" Kevin asked.

"There are fewer distractions there than here in this city and it'll be a test of endurance as well." Ji answered.

"A lesson's a lesson. You won't hear me complaining." Jayden said, tossing his orb into the air slightly and catching it.

"I…hope I have a pair of shoes fit for a week in the mud…" Mia sighed, looking back at her black, laced up ballet flats. She then, followed behind Jayden.

"This globe won't break on _my_ watch!" Mike boasted, holding the green sphere up proudly. It then slipped from his hands and into the air, he reached out for it and caught it right before it hit the ground. "Not on my watch." He said once more with a weak chuckled and then followed Mia.

Kevin looked at his sapphire orb in stern determination. "I shall study this day and night until I perfect it for you, master." He smiled at Ji whom returned one. Then he went out behind Mike.

Antonio chuckled as he spun his globe around on the tip of his finger. "I'll make sure my globe is golden." He said, heading out of the room after Kevin. Now only Emily remained, she still stood there stunned as to what she had just experienced.

Ji looked at her in concern. "Emily, shouldn't you join your comrades?" He asked the yellow ranger.

She looked side to side nervously, "Shouldn't we wait until this gloomy weather passes? I mean we could get sick, or slip and fall, or—"

"Emily!" Ji yelled, cutting her off. "What is it that's really bothering you?"

The yellow ranger answered with a sigh and sat on the chair next to her. "It's just…I don't think I'm cut out for all of this. I mean, I wasn't even supposed to be the yellow ranger. It was meant for Serena, but then she got sick…"

"And now the burden of yellow ranger falls on you?" Ji finished for her.

Emily looked up at him in disappointment and nodded. "Well…yeah. It's not really so much of a burden as it is such a intimidating responsibility. I didn't mind giving up my normal life to take my sister's place as yellow ranger, but I can't help but feel that she would be mastering this a lot better than I would." She told him.

"Emily," Ji began, placing a kind hand on her shoulder. "we all have our crosses to bear in life. And it's not always as easy as we'd hoped it would be. But being yellow ranger ended up being _your_ destiny—not your sister's. You'll get the hang of it, you just need to train and have confidence in yourself."

"Confidence…right." She answered, not quite swayed yet by her mentor's words. "Well, I should catch up to the others." As she began to walk away, she felt Ji grab her arm.

"The day will come when you accept your fate, and when you do, everything will fall into place." He said, hoping to ease her fears.

"How will I know when I'm there?" She asked.

Ji just sighed and shook his head. "You'll just know." He said with a smile. Seeing Ji smile brought out a small smile of Emily's own. She nodded and ran to catch up with her fellow rangers.


	2. Intense Tenting

The crimson water of the Sanzu River churned side to side as a huge ship that held Master Xandred and his minions flowed with it. The sky, like the water was a deep red. The whole place had an entirely evil feel to it. It was where Nighlok could dwell without fear of the Power Rangers showing up.

The ship creaked underneath Xandred's feet as he paced back and forth. For him, even that small sound was enough to drive him crazy due to the constant headaches he battled. "**Ugh!**" He roared, throwing his hands into the air. "**Dayu! I need a new monster to destroy these rangers before they master that sealing power!**"

Dayu held her Harmonium close to her chest, fearing an outburst of her master would damage it. "I'll get right on it. I'll tell Octaroo to conjure up a monster so vile, the rangers won't know what hit them ." she said with a wicked laugh, turning and sashaying few steps over. "Octaroo!" she screamed, stepping hard on the hatch beneath her where the squid-like creature resided.

She took a step back when she felt the hatch opening. Then out came the short Nighlok, staff in hand. "Ooh-ahh-ooh! You rang, lovely?" he said in a heavily sarcastic voice.

"Xandred wants a monster that'll give the rangers a real knock-out punch." Dayu told him, making a fist and punching the air.

"I'm already on it, missy!" he answered, pointing a slimy finger to the ruby sea outside of the window.

A scorpion-like monster pulled himself through the gushing water and began to cling to the boat. He climbed to the side and did a flip to reach the inside. Once there, he shook off his body to dry himself off. This monster was clad in armor as red as the Sanzu River with two squinty pure black eyes. The monster had black diamond shapes cascading down his back and out to his long stinger that had a silver tip.

"Scorp—a poisonous, life draining fiend at your service." Octaroo said, holding a hand out to the new monster, his voice sounding proud.

Dayu just folded her arms in disapproval. "…Scorp?" she scoffed. "You'd better have a good introductory for this bug."

"If you insist." Octaroo retaliated. "This monster is in league with the most venomous breed of scorpion—the Death Stalker. With one sting of his silver stinger here, his venom begins to immediately spread throughout the victim's entire body, draining them of their life energy at a very alarming rate." He patted his newest creation's tail proudly.

"Hmm…I hate to say it but I'm impressed." Dayu admitted to the half-pint.

Octaroo chuckled happily. "Another plus to this creature is that he's indigenous to warm, dry climates, meaning it'll take him longer to dry out than a typical Nighlok.

"**Incredible! Send him to devour the rangers immediately!**" Xandred ordered, sitting down in his usual area.

"But Master Xandred, should he attack any civilians as well?" Octaroo asked.

"**Why settle for pitiful human life force when we can have the special life force of the Power Rangers?**" Xandred pointed out to his minions.

"Ooh-hh-ooh! Good point, master! With that kind of power in our hands, the Sanzu River will rise and the human world will be as good as ours!" Octaroo said happily.

"**Then get to it!**" Xandred yelled in a booming voice.

"I'm ready." Scorp hissed, pounding his two red fists together.

Meanwhile, the rangers were all in the forest that the master told them to, setting up their tents. Each ranger had a tent of their own color. The only ranger that had their tent flawlessly assembled was Mia. She sat cozily in her bright pink tent with her hands behind her head and a small fan blowing through her hair. She listened to the soothing sound of rain hit her tent.

Mike grunted in frustration at his tent collapsing for the third time. He threw one of the tent pole to the ground. "Grrr! Mia!" he yelled to her, he saw her jump from her sanctuary. "How'd you get your tent up so easily?"

Mia giggled and returned to her comfy position. "I'm a girl in a wet rain forest—enough said."

Kevin even found himself struggling with his tent set up. Although he was well trained in the art of being a samurai, camping in the forest wasn't exactly his forte. "Will you help us out, Mia. _Please._" He pleaded at the pink ranger.

Mike laughed, picking up another pole. "Who knew? The kryptonite of the perfectionist Kevin was a simple camping tent."

Kevin looked embarrassed at the green ranger's comment. "I've only ever been to swim camp…we never had to use tents." He said shyly. He then looked back to Mia. "Come on, Mia!" he moaned.

Mia sighed and exited her tent. "Pink Samurai Ranger to the rescue."

Antonio popped is head from the ruins of his own failed tent. "And could you help me too?" He saw Mia nod and felt some relief.

Jayden smiled to himself when he witnessed the teamwork and relationships of his fellow rangers. They didn't seem like simple friends anymore—it was like they were family. Them helping one another was what he wanted from the beginning. After taking that small break, he returned to his own tent, which was coming along nicely. After a moment he looked to Emily who was having troubles setting up her tent. She seemed very distracted and quiet. He raise an eyebrow at her. "Everything okay there, Em? You've been quiet all day."

Emily looked over at him with a weak smile. "Me?" she asked. "Oh yeah, I'm great." With that she tried to steady her tent but it fell completely apart. She sighed in disappointment at herself and her shoulders fell.

Jayden walked over to her and began to set up her tent for her. "Okay. You just seem a little distracted today is all."

"I'm okay." She lied. "Really, it's just this silly tent."

Jayden took one of the poles and pushed it hard into the moistened soil. "If you say so." He said. After her tent was finally assembled Jayden pulled out his orb. "Hey want to train a little? It may get your mind off things."

Emily hesitantly looked at the orb she had in her yellow backpack. She never felt so nervous for a training session in her life. "Umm…yeah. Sure."

The red ranger smiled at her answer and stood, helping her to her feet as well. "Then let's begin."

Then the two rangers stood a few feet apart from one another and began to circle the other. They each held their orbs firmly in their hands, Jayden with cool confidence, and Emily with shaky intimidation. Mike, Mia, Kevin and Antonio all took this as their cue to being their own globe training.

The sparring sessions between all the rangers were all going smoothly. Emily on the other hand was barely able to keep her focus. She was so afraid of screwing up that it was coming through in her training. Then Jayden went to sweep kick the yellow ranger and in her distraction, it landed and she flew off her feet and landed on her backside, her globe falling beside her. It landed next to her and she saw that the impact had left a huge crack all around the side of it. Upon hearing all the drama, the other rangers halted their training and looked at the red and yellow rangers.

Emily quickly scooped up her globe and watched the luminousness of it weakly into a faint gleam. "No…I knew this would happen." She cried. Jayden had a guilt stricken look on his face, he may have won this sparring match but he didn't feel good about it.

Mia ran over to her friend and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey…it's okay, Em. Maybe you're just having an off day or something." She said, trying to console her. "It's no big deal."

Emily stood in pure shame. "I knew I couldn't do this." She said softly.

Mike walked over to her. "Don't kick yourself. We all make mistakes."

"You'll get the hang of it." Kevin tried to convince her.

"And maybe I can find a way to fix it!" Antonio said, picking it up and looking at it closely.

Jayden walked over to her and placed both hands on her shoulders. "Emily, I believe you can do this. You know you can too. You just need to get in sync with your body more. Protecting _yourself_ is very important, but sometimes you need to protect something else as well. If you're confident in your skills as a ranger, you can keep _anything_ safe." He explained to her in a kind voice.

She just nodded in response sadly. "Yeah…" she said weakly. "I'm going to go take a little walk. I'll be back in a little while." With that she began to walk away.

"Wait, Emily!" Mia yelled, wanting to go after her but Jayden held an arm out to stop her.

"Don't." He said. "She needs to clear her head."

"What do you think is bothering her so much?" Kevin asked.

"She doesn't have faith in herself as a ranger. And until she does she'll never be able to master the power of her globe." Jayden said, looking at the broken yellow orb in Antonio's hands.


	3. Feeling Yellow

Emily ran as fast as she could through the rain. She felt the rain hitting her hard in the face, trees passing her view. She didn't care, she wanted to run away from her problems instead of face them at that moment. Eventually, she ran out of steam and felt herself slow down. Panting, she found a tree to seek refuge against. She sat with her back against it, trying to catch her breath.

"Serena…" she said to herself between breaths, "why did you have to get so sick? This should be _you_ here right now—not me. I'm not ready to handle all of this. This is _your_ destiny!" she cried, tears falling down her face with the raindrops.

"Oh boo hoo!" a voiced called out from ahead of her, she immediately looked up to see a Nighlok before her. "What's the matter little buttercup ranger? Did you scrape your knee?" he taunted her. It was none other than the newest Nighlok, Scorp.

Emily wiped the tears from her eyes, looking more angry than sad at this point. The last thing she wanted right now was to be patronized. "What do you want, Nighlok?" she asked.

"I want to bring out more of those pretty little tears of yours to help fill Master Xandred's Sanzu River!" Scorp answered, pointing at her.

Emily pulled out her Samuraizer and flipped it open. "This is _so_ not the time for this." She said angrily, drawing her yellow symbol in the air before her. "Samuraizer! Go, go samurai! Hyah!" she yelled, hitting her symbol and being engulfed in her ranger form. "Samurai Ranger—ready!" she called out, getting into a fighting stance.

"Ready or not, I'm going to tear you apart, Yellow Ranger. Are you sure you can handle fighting me all alone?" Scorp said, hoping to bait her into striking.

Emily felt herself freeze in hesitation for a brief moment. "He…may have a point." She thought to herself, pulling her morpher back out. "Jayden, there's a Nighlok out here in the woods, I need some back up." She told him.

Seconds later she heard he Red Ranger's voice come through. "Just hang on, we'll be right there. Keep yourself safe until we get there."

"Thanks, just hurry." She said nervously, closing her Samuraizer once more.

Scorp cackled in satisfaction. "Just as I thought! You _can't_ handle me!"

This infuriated the yellow ranger. "Oh yeah?" she answered, pulling out a sword. "Spin Sword!" with that she pounced forward to the scorpion monster. Emily landed with an attempted slash at Scorp's face, which he slid to dodge. He answered with a firm kick to Emily's back, making her stumble forward. Trying to stay in unison with the monster, she turned her staggering into a flip to steady herself. As she went for a kick, he grabbed her leg and flipped her hard onto the dirt. She whimpered as she made contact with the ground. From a distance, the other rangers finally spotted Emily getting reamed by the monster.

Kevin gasped in horror. "What is she doing fighting that Nighlok alone!?"

Jayden looked sternly ahead at his yellow comrade. "She's trying to prove herself—prove that she belongs with us by holding him off alone." He said, pulling out his Samuraizer. "But she isn't alone anymore. Ready?" he asked, he and the other rangers grabbing their Samuraizers as well.

"Samuraizers! Go, go samurai!" They yelled, mystically drawing their symbols in the air, flipping them with a quick hit. Doing so threw them into their ranger forms.

"Gold power!" Antonio joined in, activating his morpher with a few taps of the buttons.

Emily looked up from the ground and saw her multi-colored teammates come to her rescue. "Guys! You made it!" she said happily.

The rangers all pulled out their Spin Swords and surrounded Scorp. "Anyone up for a little six on one?" Kevin asked, getting pumped for battle.

Scorp laughed in an arrogant manner. "Aww, that isn't fair! How about a little six on _twenty_!' he yelled, summoning a large group of Moogers to aid him in the fight.

Jayden and Emily went for the Nighlok as the other four rangers handled the Mooger mess.

Mike looked with a grin at all the Moogers that surrounded him, as they were in a stalemate. "Picking on the green guy, huh?" he laughed. "Guess I gotta bring the pain! Forest Spear!" he called out, summoning out his green spear. "Let's go for a spin!" Mike stabbed his spear into the dirt beneath his feet and began to swing around as fast as he could. His legs obliterated every Mooger that stood in his way, exploding into flames. Once he stopped he pulled out his spear. "Ha! Too easy!"

At the same time Mia found herself with a group of Moogers at all sides for her as well. "Looks like I'm going to have to do this the hard way! Sky Fan!" she spoke, a pink fan of blades landing in her hands. "Feel free _not_ to hold your fire!" she called out, holding out a hand. The Moogers were enraged at her brazenness and fired a swarm of lasers her way. Mia spun around turning her fan in the most graceful way. The beams ricocheting off of her fan and right back at them. Sparks crackled throughout their bodies, signaling defeat. "Fan-tastic!" she giggled.

Next up to be ambushed was Kevin, the Blue Ranger. "Don't leave me out of all the fun!" he yelled at the red-faced minions. A beat later, the Moogers charged hard and fast at him. "That's what I'm talking about! Hydro Bow!" he shouted, a blue bow and arrow suddenly appearing in his hands. "I'm going to make it rain!" he added, firing his blue rain-like beams into the air. A few moments passed and nothing happened, the Moogers looked at one another in confusion. Kevin then pointed upward, the Moogers following his finger. They then saw the beams coming down in sheets at them, destroying them into nothingness. "Hahaha! Done and done!"

The last bit of Moogers surrounded the Gold Ranger. He just walked back and forth with his hands on his waist. "What? Come on! I'll let you have the first move!" he told them. As they charged at him,, he pulled out his small, back-handed dagger. "Barracuda Blade!" he yelled, crouching to the ground. His body then began to flicker in rapid movements, faster than the eye can see. Without appearing to have moved, he stood and sheathed the small blade. Just as it closed, the Moogers all exploded all around him. "Buenas noches."

Jayden and Emily stood in a defensive stance on both sides of Scorp. They appeared to be ready for any move he would make.

"You really think adding one pathetic ranger to the mix would make a difference?" Scorp laughed in total boredom.

"Let's show him what we're capable of, Em!" Jayden called out to her, summoning his large buster sword like weapon. "Fire Smasher!"

"You got it!" Emily answered, summoning her own small weapon that held three blades. "Earth Slicer!"

They grunted as they lunged forward, swinging their weapons as hard as they could. But before they could it the monster, he teleported behind them, their weapons colliding in a loud clang.

"What!?" Jayden exclaimed.

"He teleported over there!" Emily answered, pointing in the direction of the Nighlok.

Scorp pranced around from side to side to taunt them. I'm over here, rangers! Catch me if you can!" he yelled, bouncing from tree to tree, heading deeper into the forest.

Jayden looked over to Emily. "Let's go. The others can handle the Moogers." He said firmly. Emily nodded in response to her leader. Then the two of them gave chase to Scorp.

When the other rangers saw that two of their teammates were heading farther into the forest, they began to try and chase after them, but another sea of Moogers cut off their path.

"Oh man! Not more Moogers!" Kevin exclaimed, blocking a punch from one of the weaklings.

"But we need to help them!" Mia cried, flipping a Mooger onto it's back.

Mike jumped, kicking two Moogers in the chest with both this legs. "Don't worry about it. Jayden and Emily can handle that pathetic Nighlok!" he assured them.

Suddenly, Scorp blinked right in front of the rangers. "I wouldn't be so sure about that Power Punks. That's the thing about this forest, once you go in deep enough you don't come out!" he shouted, laughing obnoxiously as he teleported away again.

"We have to go after them!" Antonio said, trying to run after them, but Kevin stopped him.

"We can't Antonio. You heard what he said, that forest is dangerous. If Jayden and Emily _are_ trapped in there, then us getting trapped too wouldn't do them any good. The best thing we can do right now is retreat back to the house." The Blue Ranger explained to them.

"Kevin's right." Mike agreed, cutting down the last remaining Mooger. "We need to figure out some sort of game plan to get them out of there safely."

Antonio sighed in aggravation. "Alright, but let's just hurry."

The rangers looked at one another and nodded in response, running as fast as they could back to Master Ji.


	4. The Sting of Defeat

Jayden and Emily pressed onwards through the winding forest as they chased down Scorp. Trees blew past their views the faster they ran. They stopped in confusion when the forest branched out into a small open patch.

Jayden held his sword before him, taking in his surroundings. "Be on your guard. This guy could be anywhere." He told the yellow ranger.

"Right." Emily answered worriedly, holding out her own Spin Sword with little bravery.

Suddenly, Scorp materialized in front of the red ranger, sacking him to the ground with hard force.

"Jayden!" Emily cried out. She watched as the two rolled around in struggle in the dirt.

Jayden pierced his sword into the ground to make them stop, it ripping from his hands. He felt the heavy Nighlok on top of him and pushed with all his strength against the monster, Scorp staggering backwards. Jayden stood and reached for his sword but halted when he saw the Nighlok raise his stinger in preparation to attack. He glanced from his sword back to the stinger. He couldn't make a move.

"I have you now, Red Ranger." Scorp hissed in satisfaction as he crept closer to Jayden. He sent a hard blast at him, causing Jayden to crash hard into the tree behind him. Scorp teleported in front of him once more, pushing him harder into the mighty oak behind him.

"Emily—" Jayden grunted in struggle, "hit him…in the tail."

"But…" Emily thought to herself as she looked upon the monster. "Hitting him in the tail won't free Jayden. I need to hit him in the arms instead. Jayden would agree too if he wasn't so turned around." She convinced herself. "Don't worry, Jayden!" she called out loud to her friend. "Let me handle this! Earth Slicer!" she said, throwing her weapon that descended towards Scorp's arms. But much to Emily's surprise, the scorpion smacked it with ease to the ground with his tail. "What!?" she exclaimed. "That should have worked!"

"Emily, move! He's going to strike!" Jayden yelled to her. And sure enough, Scorp hurled her yellow Earth Slicer back at her, it hitting her hard across the chest. "No!" he cried, reaching for her, but stilled pinned against the tree.

Scorp laughed in a devious manner. "Now that the pretty little ranger is out of the way, we can get down to business! Master Xandred isn't going to let you master that Sealing Symbol Power." Jayden looked at the monster in horror as he spoke those words. Scorp then rose his silver stinger as high as he could. "Don't worry, this is only going to sting a LOT." With that, he let down his long stinger, jabbing the Red Ranger hard on the left side of his torso right underneath his rib. Jayden slid down the tree, crying out and onto the ground, clutching his wound.

"Jayden, no!" Emily cried, running over to him as fast as she could. He demorphed in her arms and was shivering slightly. "Oh no! Are you okay!? I'm so so sorry!" she yelled, stroking his cheek softly.

"You should have listened to your little red friend, you left my stinger right out in the open!" Scorp laughed. "Now it's _your_ turn!" he yelled, beginning to lunge at the one in yellow. But after a few moments passed, Scorp halted, looking down to see that his body was finally starting to dry out given the extended length of time he had been out of the Sanzu River. "Grrr…" he growled. "I need to power up, but this is far from over!" he yelled, slipping through a red crack he created in one of the trees.

Emily sighed. "That was close. Power down!" she called out, removing herself from ranger form. She then looked down to Jayden, who seemed to be shivering little less. "Are you okay?" she asked him. "This happened to you because of me. If I had just listened to you…I don't know what I was thinking." She said shaking her head in utter shame.

"Emily." He said forcefully to get her attention. "I'm fine. He just…stunned me is all…Okay?" he told her trying to get her to calm down.

Emily just nodded unsurely and helped him get back onto his feet. She wasn't sure if he was telling her the truth, or was just trying to make her feel better.

XXX

Back at the Samurai house, Master Ji and the other rangers all stood in the living room, surrounding the water covered coffee table that was able to turn into a map of the city. They scoured the entire thing for any sign of Jayden and Emily's Samuraizers. A negative sounded beep rang from the table, signaling that they were getting nowhere fast.

"Man! No luck!" Mike said, throwing his arms up to his head in anger.

Kevin shook his head at their failure. "This doesn't make any sense, why aren't we able to find them yet?"

Master Ji just sighed and tapped the top of the table, making everything close and fade. "It's useless, you won't be able to find them this way. Jayden and Emily are lost in the One Way Forest." He told them.

"One way?" Mia asked in confusion, "What does that mean?"

"It means that once you go in, you cannot come out." Ji told her, his face turning somber, which happened very rarely. "And there's no way we can find them."

"Wait." Mike interjected, "Can't we just send Kevin's Dragon Zord to fly in the sky to get bird's eye view of the entire place?"

"It's not so simple as all that." Ji told him, tapping the table once more, pulling up a diagram of this One Way Forest. "Once you enter this forest, the trees begin to shift behind you so you easily lose your way." He explained.

"The trees…move?" Antonio asked, looking strangely at the diagram.

Ji nodded. "Yes, but you cannot see them do so. They can only move when you turn your eyesight from them so you get trapped inside."

"Is there a way we could leave a trail or something so we could find our way back?" Mia asked in a desperate attempt for an answer,

"I'm afraid that isn't possible either. Nighlok can easily teleport through the forest because this forest was one of their making. They would destroy any trail you made." The mentor went on to explain.

"A forest that only Nighlok know how to get through." Mia said, shaking her head.

Mike suddenly whipped around to his mentor, a thought suddenly dawning on him. "Hold on! You knew that that forest was only traversable for Nighlok and you sent us in there to train!?"

Ji looked at the Green Ranger sadly, he knew that he had a point. "I hadn't planned on you going in that far, and that mistake was my own. But the only thing we can do right now is wait for them to get into an area where we can get a hold of them."

"Let's hope the Nighlok doesn't get to them before we do." Kevin added in a worried voice.

XXX


	5. Somebody to Lean On

Meanwhile, down at the Sanzu River, the evil Nighlok watched as the water level grew a few inches. Scorp sat down beside Octoroo who was giving him some of the water to drink to repower himself. He slowly felt the power seeping back into his dried body. His rest was soon interrupted when he saw Master Xandred bolting up to him.

"**What are you doing back here so soon!?** **Those pathetic rangers should all be fish food by now!"** he screamed in Scorp's face.

Scorp just grumbled in frustration. "Hmph, I would have been able to take them all out if your wimpy water didn't have so little lasting power."

Master Xandred then picked up a stool that was beside him and threw it hard across the room, smashing it into little wooden bits. "**What did you just say!?**" his loud voice rang throughout the small ship.

Octoroo went in front of the boiling mad master and held his arms out. "Ooh-hh-ooh! Scorp does have a point though, Master! I know it seems like he didn't last long, but it was roughly doubled to the length of time other Nighlok have withstood." He explained in defense to the scorpion.

"**What's the point of having longer time if you don't do anything with it!?**" Xandred retaliated.

Scorp stood up in anger. "Are you dense or something? As a matter of fact I _did_ do something! I was able to take out that pesky red ranger you hate so much! That pretty yellow ranger left the door wide open for me to do so, so I guess you have _her_ to thank as well!" He then saw his master's nerves calm a little bt. "That ranger should be done for in as little as a day!"

Xandred looked down to the ground and felt the anger leaving him. "**Hmmm…If he is destroyed then he won't be able to master that Sealing Symbol Power.**" He then returned his view to his new favorite monster. "**Take care of the others in the meantime.** **Then that will prove your power you speak so highly of. I expect nothing less than 100% from you.**" He went on.

Dayu merged from the shadows, playing a few notes on her Harmonium. "What if the rangers find an antidote for him?" she asked.

"That isn't going to happen. There is only _one_ antidote and those rangers will never find it in a million years!" Scorp told her.

"And that antidote would be?" Dayu asked, folding her arms.

Scorp scoffed at her question. "Why would I bother telling a grunt like you?"

Dayu pulled on the neck of her Harmonium, revealing her small dagger. She held it right at Scorp's throat. "You had better watch your tongue or you'll find yourself off this ship and on a whole new one!" she hissed at him.

Xandred let out an angry roar. "**Enough of this pathetic banter! You go take care of the rest of those Power Rangers now!**"

Scorp allowed for Octoroo to pour one more ladle of the river water onto his body before standing up and leaving. "Then I'm out of here! I'll see you when I defeat the rest of the rangers!" he laughed, hopping out of the ship.

Dayu let out a scream of anger. "I can't believe you let a pathetic warrior like that stand up to us! You should have struck him down where he stood!" she yelled to her master.

"**I'd suggest you calm down, Dayu! The most important thing was that he take care of the Red Ranger, the rest are just for decoration. I don't want to risk the Red Ranger's friends coming across that antidote he mentioned. The others will fall to pieces without their powerhouse. Especially the yellow one.**" Master Xandred told them.

"Very well, Master Xandred." Dayu answered in disgust.

XXX

In the One Way Forest, Jayden and Emily were walking slowly through it, trying to find a way out of what seemed like an endless maze. Jayden was setting the walking pace, which was slow. He held his side and had a sickly demeanor on his face. Emily felt herself looking at him every few seconds in fear that he would soon collapse.

"Jayden…are you alright? You don't look so good." She told him.

"Aww, thanks." He said with a weakened voice. "I knew I shouldn't have worn this shirt today." he told her, trying to get any sort of smile out of her.

Emily felt herself smile and laugh. This made Jayden smile as well, but she could tell that every time he laughed, it pained him because he'd wince slightly when he did.

"Maybe I should take a look at your wound." She offered to him. "I was training to be a nurse's aide right before I became a Power Ranger."

Jayden considered her offer momentarily, but then decided against it. He could tell from the blinding pain that his wound was bad, and her looking at it wasn't going to make her feel any better. He knew that the chances of her healing something of a Nighlok's doing was slim to none.

"It's nothing, Em." He told her. "I'm really fine, it just feels like a small bruise." Guilt panged him as he lied to her, it hurt almost as much as the wound itself.

Emily looked at him unsurely. "…Okay." She answered hesitantly. "I'm going to go up ahead a little ways to see if any Moogers or even Scorp is there."

Jayden nodded slowly. "Don't go too far alright—stay in eye range."

The Red Ranger watched his friend jog ahead a little ways. When she was far enough away he lifted his shirt to look at the true state of his wound. He felt a lump form in his throat when he saw it. It was so red that it was nearly purple, and he had a circular small hole in his side from where the stinger hit him. He felt breathless. When he heard Emily returning, he quickly pulled his shirt back down.

"Looks like it's all clear up ahead." She said, looking to Jayden, noticing that he was looking more sickly with each passing moment. He was as white as a sheet and beads of sweat had collected on his forehead, trickling down his face. "You look really sick Jayden. Maybe we should stop here for a little while."

Jayden winced as he went to talk. "No, I'm okay. We can't risk this Nighlok getting loose into the city and hurting innocent people."

Emily flipped open her Samuraizer. "Well, either way I'm going to call Master Ji." She told him. Much to her surprise, she heard a busy signal when she went to call him. "Master Ji?" she asked, hearing nothing but repetitive beeps coming through her phone. "Rangers, Ji? It's Emily, do you read me?" she asked again with still no answer. She then flipped her phone back closed. "That's really odd."

"I'll try mine." Jayden responded, pulling out his own Samuraizer. "Kevin? Antonio, Mia, Mike?" he asked, receiving the same effects as Emily had. "Mentor!" he said, increasing his volume.

"I think something is jamming our Samuraizers." Emily observed.

Jayden nodded, closing his phone. "Something isn't right, that's for sure."

Emily looked behind her and her eyes grew wide when she did. "Umm…Jayden?" she asked, looking at all the trees that had appeared behind her. "Were there all those trees blocking our path when we first came in here?"

Jayden sighed, suddenly realizing where they were. "Oh no. I can't believe we let that Nighlok lure us here so easily."

Emily looked at him with concern. "Lure us where?" she asked.

"The One Way Forest." He replied. "It's this huge labyrinth of trees and rocks that shift their positions whenever someone enters deep enough into it. That way they can never find their way out."

Emily felt at a loss for words for a few moments. Finally she was able to speak. "So what are we supposed to do now?" she asked.

"Just keep walking I guess." He answered. "If we keep going in the same direction we may be able to find a way out of here. It's worth a shot."

"Okay, let's do that." She answered with a nod, still feeling uneasy about his condition.

As they went to continue on their trek through the forest, a couple of arrows whipped past their heads, hitting a tree right next to them. Then an army of Moogers appeared into view.

"Oh great, not again." Emily said in a whiny voice.

Jayden took a few steps forward. "We have no choice, we have to fight them." He told her.

"Fight!? But you're injured!" Emily reminded him, fearing for his safety.

"I'll be fine—let's just make this fast." He said in a strained voice, holding out his morpher.

"You're the boss…" she said with hesitation, pulling out her morpher as well.

"Samuraizer!" They called out, "Go, go Samurai! Hyah!" they drew their yellow and red symbols into the air and smacking them. In the blink of an eye they were back into ranger form. "Samurai Rangers, ready!" they said, striking their poses of defense.

Jayden tried to shake the pain away from his mind. "Okay, I can do this." He thought to himself. "I can ignore the pain. Mind over matter." Then they ran forward, summoning their weapons into their hands. "Fire Smasher!"

"Earth Slicer!" Emily yelled at the same time.

Jayden swung his sword back and forth at the Mooger clan. Flames danced all around him with each swing. Incinerating each villain that dared get into its path. Up ahead, he saw a Mooger fire a few arrows his way. He lifted the fat sword up in front of him to block them. The puny arrows fell to the ground like little scraps of paper. Scooping the arrows up with this sword, Jayden hurled the arrows into the air, setting them ablaze. With one hard swing, he hurled the fire arrows back at the Moogers who fired them, causing them to now incinerate themselves. After he had defeated them, Jayden rested the long sword wearily on his shoulder.

"That wasn't so bad." He started, then feeling a twinge of pain he cried out and fell to his knees, using the Fire Smasher as leverage to stay upward.

Emily seemed to be holding off her own group of Moogers with relative ease. She was slicing them down one by one. "I'll cut you down to pieces!" she laughed as she danced around with her weapon. But what she didn't notice was a Mooger readying an arrow from behind her.

"Emily, behind you!" Jayden screamed to her.

Emily quickly turned around to the monster, causing the arrow to only graze her right arm. Although it was only a flesh wound, she still let out a cry and grabbed her arm, demporphing as she fell to the ground.

Jayden forced himself to his feet without question. "I'm coming, Em! Just hang on!" he called out, wielding his large sword once again. "Fire Smasher—cannon mode!" he yelled, folding the sword into a cannon shape. "Fire!" he screamed, firing the weapon as hard as he could at the Moogers. They all fell hard to the ground like the weaklings they were. Putting his sword away and demorphing, he ran over to Emily and helped her to her feet. "Are you hurt?" he asked her.

Emily winced slightly as he rubbed her arm. "Not really, just a little scratch is all." She answered. "I'm just a little shook up."

Jayden patted her on her head sweetly. "You did just fine, Emily. You were surrounded on all sides and handled yourself well. You are getting better at this with every battle."

Despite his kind words, Emily still hung her head. "But you shouldn't have to keep endangering yourself for me. I hate the thought of putting anyone in danger…especially you." She said, looking at his green eyes.

Jayden took her hand in his. "That's what being a team is all about. We need to lean on one another from time to time—depend on each other. There's nothing wrong with that."

The Yellow Ranger felt herself smile a little. "You're right." She admitted. "Sorry I've been such a downer today. It's just been one thing after another with me I guess. The last thing I want to be is a burden to anyone." She told him.

Jayden exhaled sharply with his next words. "You're not a burden, Emily. You just need to…" he began but collapsed to the ground.

"Again?" Emily exclaimed. "What's happening to you?" she asked in pure worry. She noticed that he was shivering really hard again and that purple circles began to form beneath his eyes.

"I—I don't know." He winced, breathing heavily.

"We need to find a place for you to rest for the night." Emily told him, helping him to stand. "Come on, let's go."

With that, the two ranger dwelled deeper into the forest to find a safe area for the night.


	6. Nurses' Aide Emily

Meanwhile, back at the ranger's base, the rangers all ran into the living room when they heard the gap sensors ringing loud throughout the house. They all headed for the coffee table that Mentor tapped with his finger pulling up a map of the city.

"Were you able to find them?" Mia asked hopefully.

"If by _them_ you mean Moogers and Scorp than yes." Mentor Ji replied.

"Guess it's up to the four of us to take care of this situation." Mike said with determination.

They then saw Ji shake his head in decline. "No, Mike, Antonio can't go with you either." He said.

"I have to work on fixing Emily's globe. But if you run into trouble just call me and I'll come running." Antonio said, walking forward.

"Then I guess we had better head out." Kevin instructed the team. "We can handle this, we just need to have faith in ourselves."

"Wait!" Ji called out to them, walking over to them holding a small tray that had three cups resting atop it. They were filled to the brim with this thick, nasty-looking green substance. "This time you need to go in prepared."

"Ugh," Mia groaned, "what the heck is that stuff?"

Ji pulled out the glasses and handed one to Mike, Mia and Kevin, who took them with great hesitation. "This is a mixture that I've made to help protect you against Scorp's venom. If he stings you with his stinger, his venom will spread throughout your body until it completely drains you of all your life energy." He explained to them.

Mike looked in disgust at the contents of his cup. "And this goop is able to protect us against it?"

Ji nodded with pride at his working antidote. "Yes, but you must drink the entire thing for it to take effect." He warned them. He looked over at Mike and smirked at how grossed out he was. "Every. Single. Drop."

When he heard that his friends were going to have to drink that substance, Antonio grabbed Emily's globe and began to walk backwards out of the room. "Uh…I'd love to stay and join you for tea time, but I have some work to do!" he claimed, running out of the room before the Mentor made him drink some of that slop as well.

A sudden thought struck Kevin. "Mentor…" he began, "you said that if someone is stung by Scorp's stinger, it rapidly begins to drain their life away…what if Jayden or Emily was stung by it?" he asked in fear for his friends.

Ji sighed and reached for a book that lay on the shelf behind him. "Let's just say that wouldn't be good…but it wouldn't be hopeless." He told them, opening the book to a certain page, showing it to the rangers. On the page was a pure white flower with a black pollen center.

Mia looked at the flower in awe. "Wow, it's so pretty." She commented.

"And effective." Ji added. "The aloe in this flower is very unique. The particles inside of it hold the power to neutralize Scorp's venom completely. The problem is I was only able to find one, and I used all of it to make these potions for you." He explained.

"So, if Jay and Em _were_ stung, all they would have to do is find this flower, crush it up into…this," Mike said, looking at the green goop and cringing, "and they would be able to cure the poison?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Mike." Ji told him. "This flower is exceedingly rare and delicate. If it's treated without the exact tenderness and care it needs, it will wither up and die immediately."

Kevin sighed hard and closed his eyes. "Wow, that's really not good." He said.

"I know—that's why you have to defeat that Nighlok and locate Jayden and Emily as fast as you can." Ji warned them.

"We'll do everything we can to save them, Mentor." Mia assured him.

"But first things first…"Mike hedged, as he and the others all gulped down their antidotes with a hard cringe. "Let's go." The green ranger added in a raspy voice. The rangers all ran out of the house with disgusted looks on their faces.

XXX

In the town square, civilians ran around in fear of the scorpion monster. Scorp laughed as he saw the people scramble about, crashing into one another. "Run away you pathetic humans! Your fear only makes me stronger!" he yelled in delight.

"Hey, sting face!" Kevin called out, firing at the monster with his Hydro Bow, getting his attention.

Scorp turned to his new opponents. "Ahh, the Power Rangers! Just who I wanted to see! Now you call can feel the pain of my sting!" he yelled at them.

"Tell us where our friends are!" Mia demanded. "Make things easy on yourself!"

"Hmmm…let me think…" Scorp answered, feigning thought. "No dice!"

"I guess this means we have to do things the hard way. Ready guys!?" Mike asked his pink and blue teammates.

"Ready!" Mia and Kevin answered in unison, the three of them pulling out their samurai morphers.

"Samraizers! Go, go samurai! Hyah!" they called out, sketching their power symbols into the air before them in a few quick strokes. Then with one quick smack, their symbols covered them, turning them into their ranger forms. "Samurai rangers, ready!" they concluded, getting into their battle stances.

"You rangers are so foolish! Once you feel my sting, you'll be begging for mercy!" Scorp laughed, pointing at the rangers. He leapt forward and began to rapidly sting the three rangers with his silver tail, much to his dismay, his stinger just bounced right off of them. "What!? Why didn't my venom infect you!?" he screamed at the rangers.

Mia pulled out her Sky Fan, preparing to strike. "Let's just say we've done our homework on your little stinger, Scorp! Now tell us where we can find our friends!"

"I'll never submit to you rangers!" Scorp growled, beginning to throw quick punches and kicks at the rangers anyways. Mia then swung her Sky Fan at the monster, hitting him hard across the chest, bringing him to the ground.

"Forest Spear!" Mike yelled, summoning his long weapon into his hands, aiming it right in the Nighlok's face. "The lady asked you a question! Now spill it!"

XXX

In the One Way Forest, the sun was starting to set fast. Jayden and Emily saw their surroundings slowly getting darker and darker. What little sun they could see hid and danced from tree to tree. Jayden was trailing slowly behind Emily, who was already walking slow as to not get too far ahead of him. She was desperate to find a safe area to rest, for she knew Jayden's condition was worsening with each passing minute.

"Emily…" she heard him say in a voice that was barely audible. When she looked at him she saw that he was sweating and breathing to an extreme extent. She watched as he fell hard to the ground, shaking like a leaf.

"Jayden!" she cried out, running to him.

"I-I'm fr-freezing." He said, shivering so hard it was almost like a seizure.

Without a second thought, she ripped her jacket from her own body and covered him with it. It wasn't remotely cold outside, it was actually still quite warm and muggy given the time of the day. She knew that the venom from Scorp was to blame. She went to touch his forehead to see if he had a fever. "Oh my God, Jayden, you're on fire." She said nervously. She looked at the Red Ranger in her arms helplessly. She didn't know what to do. With no way out of the forest and no way to get a hold of their Mentor, she had no idea how to get Jayden the help he needed. Right now all she knew was she needed to keep him from freezing. "I'm going to make you a fire, okay? There's broken branches scattered all over this area, I'll be back in a few minutes." She told him in a sweet and soothing voice, laying his head gently on her backpack to use as a pillow. She pulled his morpher from his pocket and placed it next to him. "Call me if you need me. I'll hurry." She told him.

As she began to run to get some firewood, she heard Jayden call out to her. "Emily!" he yelled with a forced and weakened smile. "Th-thank you."

Emily returned about two minutes later, which to Jayden felt like two hours. She ran up next to him carrying a huge armful of branches and twigs. "How are you holding up, Jay?" she asked him. He said no words in response, just continued shivering and nodded his head so he wouldn't have to speak. His eyes were tightly closed, trying to focus on something other than the pain. This made her prepare the fire even faster. Once she had a bed of branches and twigs for the fire to begin, she then furiously began to run two sticks together. To her delight she saw a spark flicker. She blew some air onto it to fan it out and before she knew it, she and Jayden had a small campfire. "You should warm up soon." She said, sitting next to him.

"That's g-good to hear." He answered weakly.

"Here." She said, tucking in her jacket around him tighter. As she went to touch his head again, she was scared to feel that his temperature was still sky high. "You still have a very high fever, Jayden." She said in worry.

"It'll pass." He answered between breaths.

"You need a cold compress." She said softly. She looked to her left and saw a small pond. She then ripped off a piece of her shirt and dipped it into the cool water. Once it was cool enough, she went to place it on Jayden's forehead. She felt herself staring at Jayden in pure sadness. "I am so sorry. All of this happened to you because I didn't follow your orders."

Jayden weakly went to place his hand on her knee. "It's alright, Emily. You followed your instincts, that's never the wrong thing to do." He told her. She jumped when she heard him groan loudly and grab his side. She couldn't stand it anymore.

"I'm sorry, Jayden, but I have to take a look." She told him, hating to go against his wishes. "I may be able to help."

Jayden took a few deep breaths before he finally gave in. "Alright." He submitted, pulling her jacket off of him.

Emily then carefully raised Jayden's red shirt and looked at his wound. She now knew what was ailing him so horribly. "Oh…" she said looking at it closely.

"What is it?" Jayden asked her.

"A part of Scorp's stinger is stuck in your side. That's why you're in so much pain." She told him.

"What do we do?" he asked her.

"In need something to get it out but I don't—" she began when a thought hit her. She reached into her hair and pulled out a beak-shaped clip that resembled a pair of tweezers. "I could use this to get it out but…" she said, looking to him, knowing that what she was about to do was going to be extremely difficult on the both of them.

Jayden looked at her with a serious expression, trying to hide his own fear. "You have to do it, Emily. I'll get through it." He told her. He could tell she was terrified to cause him any more pain than he was already in.

Emily gulped and ran the tips of the clip onto the fire to sterilize it. "Okay. I'll get it out as quickly as I can. I've done a lot worse than this before when I was taking care of my sister." She said, hoping to calm his nerves, not to mention _hers_.

"Go for it." He said, mustering a small smile at her.

"Just close your eyes and try only to focus on the sound of my voice." She instructed him.

Jayden nodded and braced himself, closing his eyes. "Wh-where did you learn your m-medical skills?"

Emily looked to his wound and began her work. "Well, when my sister Serena fell ill I wanted to do everything I could to help her recover. So, I threw myself into the medical field, studying everything I could day and night." She told him. She located the stinger and pinched the clip around it and pull it out.

"Ahh!" Jayden screamed in anguish, breathing even harder.

"Stay with me, Jayden!" She said in a firm voice, "It's almost over."

"Were you…able to help her?" he asked in a strained voice.

Emily shook her head sadly. "Not enough. I mean she got a little better over the next few months but she was still too sick to be the Yellow Ranger. So…I took her place and told her I'd try to do my best to be as good as she would be. She had an incredible knack for fighting and her instincts were superb. That's why I'm so self conscious about myself, I…feel like I took this chance away from her." She said sadly.

Jayden placed his hand on her arm gently. "You did what y-you had to do. I think you're a better ranger than her…you have to follow your own path—n-not someone else's." he told her with a weakened smile. "I'm glad that it was you that became the Yellow Ranger."

She smiled softly at him. "Thank you, Jayden." A second later she yanked the stinger out in one swift motion, Jayden crying out loudly. She immediately put pressure on the wound. "It's over, Jayden. I got it out, you did fantastic." She said, stroking his forehead.

"Thank…you…" he said weakly.

"Are you alright?" she asked, expecting him to look better than he did. As she pet his forehead, she felt that he still had a high fever. "You're still burning up." She flipped the cold compress onto the other cooler side and put it back on his head. "The venom must've reached your bloodstream. And there's only one way I know to neutralize it."

"And how's that?" he asked her.

"There's a rare flower in a forest that is pure white with a black center. It's said that if you can handle it gently enough, you can make an antidote for almost anything." She explained. "But it's very rare."

"Well, let's go take a look for it." He said, "I don't want this Nighlok to hurt any more people." With that he tried to stand, but his body immediately punished him for doing so, forcing him back down.

"No, Jayden. I have to do this myself." She told him, covering his body back up.

"N-no." Jayden protested. "You might get hurt too."

Emily smiled at his sweetness. "I'll be fine. After all _you're_ one of my mentor's too and you taught me to follow my instincts. That's what I'm going to do." She said.

"Please…" Jayden heaved. "Be careful."

"You got it." She said kindly back to him. Then she ran off as fast as she could in search of this unique flower. Jayden watched her run away, wanting nothing more than to go after her and keep her safe


	7. Shattered

Meanwhile, the other rangers seemed to be getting nowhere with Scorp. They just kept throwing blows back and forth at one another like it was some sort of endless game. Once they were able to get Scorp on the ground, the rangers all stood next to one another.

"This is getting, tiring, Scorp." Kevin said, resting his Hydro Bow on his shoulder. "Just tell us where our friends are already!"

Scorp scampered to his feet and looked at his colorful opposition. "I'm sorry…I still got nothin'!" he laughed in a taunting manner.

Mike let out a loud growl and spun is sword around in preparation to strike. "We're getting nowhere with this freak!"

"You're just going to dry out if you don't tell us what you're hiding soon." Mia warned him. "You can't win, so just tell us before your time runs out!"

Scorp let out a high pitched, buzzing laughter. "If you're worried about time running out, I'd be more concerned about little Red Ranger-hood!"

The rangers all froze, drawn in by Scorp's words.

"You…poisoned Jayden?" Mia asked, raising a hand to her mouth in shock.

"Ding ding ding! You got it, Pinky!" Scorp clapped, firing an energy blast from his body onto the rangers. "Here's your prize!" The rangers all fell to the ground, their suits smoking from the blast.

"What's…going to happen to him?" Kevin asked in a weak voice.

"Didn't your master tell you? It'll drain his life force until there's nothing left of him!" Scorp said deviously.

"Could Jayden already be…" Mike began to speak.

"Don't say it, Mike!" Mia cut him off, the mere thought of Jayden being destroyed driving her insane.

Kevin balled a tight fist and leapt of the ground, "Spin Sword! Dragon Splash!" he screamed, hitting the monster as hard as he could with his water powered attack. The force of the blow sent Scorp flying through the air. He landed hard on an outdoor picnic table, which collapsed underneath his weight. Kevin stormed up to him and placed his Spin Sword against Scorp's chest. "Tell us where they are right now, or I'll end you right here!" Kevin was very loyal to his being a samurai, and his friends meant everything to him, especially Jayden. Him being an only child growing up, he always wanted a brother, and he finally found him when he met the Red Ranger.

Scorp just groaned wearily, but still laughed at the Blue Ranger. "That's the beauty of my predicament. If you destroy me, you'll NEVER find your friends! Only Nighlok know how to navigate that forest!" he reminded him.

They were at a Stalemate, they didn't know what to do. Suddenly, Scorp raised an arm to summon a portal back to the Netherworld, sliding off of the table and into the crack he created in the floor.

"No! He got away again!" Kevin cried, hitting his knees in despair. "What are we going to do now?"

XXX

Emily hiked through the darkened forest as fast as she could, keeping her eyes peeled for the delicate flower she needed to save Jayden. As she did this, she couldn't help but be racked from memories from the past.

_She saw herself a few years younger, researching medical healing properties to cure her sister's mysterious sickness, when she came across the white flower on a website. _

"_The Ivory Gardenia?" she read off of the page. The page explained how fragile the flower was and being able to locate one was a very rare event. But the aloe from its petals had amazing antibodies that could kill virtually any kind of ailment out there. "I have to find this flower…no matter what." She said softly, looking behind her at her sister, Serena, sleeping in her bed._

_She immediately ran out to the garden of their house, scanning every flower twice for the Ivory Gardenia, but to no avail. She was slightly hopefully that the rare flower would be in the garden somehow, but she wasn't surprised when she couldn't find it there. She knew it would be a lot harder than that._

_So Emily headed deeper into the forest that was next to her home. They lived so far out in the sticks because her sister couldn't be around others due to how damaged her immune system had become. Emily was the only one allowed to be near her._

_Emily knew this forest like the back of her hand, so she knew how to hiked through it without getting lost. She headed up a steep hill that lead to a glade of wildflowers, she hoped she would have better luck there than in the garden. This forest was all but abandoned except for when she would go on her nature walks._

_After what felt like hours of searching through thousands of flowers, Emily spotted something that made relief wash over her. Tears welled in her eyes when she saw the white petals of the Ivory Gardenia._

"_I can't believe it! It's here!" she cried in bliss, as she scooped the flower into her hands as gently as she could. She ran as fast as she could to get the flower back to her sister intact. While she was running down the steep hill she had recently ascended, she looked down at the flower briefly to make sure it was still okay. As she did, she didn't see a branch before her, her leg caught onto it and she was thrown violently down the hill, rolling roughly down it for what felt like forever. When she finally stopped, she felt a shooting pain in her right arm, she knew it was shattered. Cradling her arm to her chest, she looked over just in time to see the Ivory Gardenia shatter into bits. She reached for it hopelessly, "Noooo!" she screamed. It was over, the only chance she had to save her sister was gone._

Emily shook these memories from her head as she continued walking, she wasn't going to let the same thing happen to Jayden. "I may have failed you, Serena, but I promise I won't let the same thing happen to anyone else." She said softly to herself.

The darkness of the forest was slowly getting to her, the animal calls in the distance and the hanging branches of the trees were getting disturbing being there all alone. She felt herself step on a twig, the small snapping noise made her nearly jump out of her skin.

"Calm down, Emily!" she scolded herself. "Just find the flower and get out of here! Jayden can't hold out much longer!"

Ahead, she saw a faint glowing light pulsating. She ran over it to see if it was what she sought. Upon closer viewing, she discovered that it wasn't it.

"Darn!" she yelled. "I have to keep looking, I can't let anything happen to anyone else I care about!" she said in determination. She was _going_ to find this Ivory Gardenia, and wasn't going to stop until she did.


	8. Contact

Jayden lay by the fire, his vision blurry from his weakened state. He looked up to the moon that, to him, just looked like a big white fuzz-ball. He fought hard to stay awake, fearing that if he fell asleep, he'd never wake up again. A sudden ringing hit his ears, he looked over to see his Samuraizer going off. He went to reach for it and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he said in strained voice.

"Jayden!" he heard Master Ji yell happily from the other line. "I can't believe I finally got through! Are you okay!?"

"Mentor?" Jayden asked weakly. "Yeah, I'm alright…more or less." He said.

"Where are you guys!?" He heard Mike yell in the background. The others had made it back to the Shiba house since Scorp was able to escape their clutches once more.

Jayden looked around wearily, trying to get any sense of where he was. "I…I don't know. We're somewhere deep inside this forest."

"You need to stay with me, Jayden." Ji said in a firm voice. "The rangers told me that you're hurt and I know you need immediate medical attention, but in order to get you that we need to know where you are. Where's Emily?" he asked next.

"She…she went into the forest to find some…flower she knew about that would make an antidote for me." The Red Ranger told them. "She hasn't been gone that long…but I'm worried about her."

"I know you're injured, Jayden, but since Emily isn't there right now, I need you to try and take a look around you to see if there's _anything _unique about the area you're in right now so we can have a better chance of finding you and Emily." Ji told him.

Jayden winced as he forced himself to sit up. He gave the area a once over with what little vision he could see with. After a few seconds his strength left him and he was forced back down. "I don't see anything…I'm sorry." He panted in response.

"Don't worry, Jayden." He heard Kevin's voice say next. "We are going to find you no matter what."

Suddenly, everything around the Red Ranger went dark, he dropped his Samuraizer to the ground, his body completely going limp. His sudden silence struck fear in the hearts of this friends.

"Jayden!" Mentor called out through the line. "Jayden!" he called again.

A mysterious figure walked up to the fallen ranger and picked up his Samuraizer, hearing the calls of his teammates through the speaker.

"I'm sorry, but the Red Ranger is unavailable right now." The figure said in a dark yet cunning voice.

The team's eyes all went wide when they heard this voice, they knew all too well who it was at the other end.

"Deker…?" Mia said in horror.

"You catch on quick." He answered. "I'll tell you the coordinates of your friend. Being half Nighlok, I know the layout of this forest like the back of my hand."

Kevin grabbed the phone away from his Mentor's hand. "Why? Why would you ever want to help us? It'd be just like you to lead us right into a trap!" he yelled.

"Because I want nothing more than to have the ultimate duel with the Red Ranger." Deker answered, holding up his long, red sword that glistened in the moonlight. "My sword Uramasa has a thirst for battle, and this ranger is the only one who can quench it. I refuse to fight an injured opponent, I want him in complete top form when the time finally comes for our battle. Besides…" he said in a cocky voice. "…what other choice do you have but to trust me?"

Kevin grunted in anger and went to a desk that held a piece of paper and a pen. "Fine. Tell me the coordinates." He said in a firm voice. After hearing what he needed, he flipped the Samuraizer closed and handed the piece of paper he had written on to Mentor Ji.

When the mentor saw the paper, he immediately knew where the other rangers were. "They're at Blossom Lake, it's in the dead center of the forest." He said quickly.

"But…can we really trust Deker with these coordinates?" Mike asked, looking nervous at leaving the fate of their friend to a half-Nighlok.

"Battling Jayden seems like what Deker was born to do. And like he said, he wouldn't want to do it while he's hurt. He wants the _ultimate _duel." Mia answered.

"I'll do whatever it takes to save our leader. Let's head out." Kevin said, the other rangers nodding in response, following him out of the room.

Ji just stood there stunned for a moment. "Just hang on, Jayden. Just a little longer."

XXX

Finally, Emily reached a plateau of the forest—a dead end. All around her she saw Ivory Gardenias, but the thing was, they were all dead and shriveled. She hit her knees in sorrow, crushed by the fact that what she needed was taunting her so terribly.

"They can't _all_ be dead!" She cried, looking all around her. She picked up one of the dry flowers in her hands and watched it turn into a powder that ran through her fingers. While on her knees she looked forward, squinting to see something that caught her eye. She ran over to a rotted log and peered into it. There, she saw a fully intact Ivory Gardenia. Her eyes lit up as she reached for it, as gently as she could. "This is it!" she said happily.

"Is it though?" A high-pitched bug voice said, belonging none other than to Scorp.

Emily rolled her eyes and sighed. "No. Not now." She said to herself, she looked to the monster, cradling the flower in her hand. "Samuraizer! Go, go samurai!" she called out, throwing herself into her yellow ranger form. "Spin Sword!" she said, pulling out her weapon, holding it with her free hand.

"I've got some payback with your name on it, ranger!" Scorp yelled, rushing at her. She swung the sword as hard as she could at the Nighlok, trying to avoid his blows at all costs. She ducked to dodge one of his punches and rolled out of the way. Much to her delight, she saw that the Gardenia was still fine.

"This is just like when I had to battle with my sphere and not harm it…" she said to herself, looking at the flower once more. "But there's a lot more on the line this time, and I _won't _let this flower get destroyed. I'll persevere no matter what!" she yelled in confidence.

Scorp laughed at the ranger, "We've got a live one!"

After deflecting a few more blows from one another, Emily finally jumped backwards. "I don't have time for all this! Jayden needs me!" With that, she slashed Scorp hard across the chest with her Spin Sword, sending him flying backwards, crashing into a tree behind him.

"Whoa…" he groaned in disbelief. "How'd you pull_ that_ off!?"

"My friends drive me! I fight for them, and they fight for me!" She answered the monster, pulling her Samuraizer out again. "Symbol Power—Quake!" she yelled, drawing and earthly symbol in front of her. With that, the ground beneath Scorp began to shake violently, thrashing him all about.

"Earth Slicer!" She yelled out, her blade-like weapon falling into her hands. "Final Strike!" Emily then swung her weapon as hard as she could, still trying to maintain the flower in her hand. She watched Scorp squirm on the ground, and saw he was immobilized, she knew this was her chance to get away. She then began to run back to Jayden as fast as she could.

"I'm coming Jayden." She said with a smile, she had managed to take down Scorp _and _keep the Ivory Gardenia intact. This was the most proud of herself she had been in a long time, and knowing that she had the antidote to save the Red Ranger made it even better.


	9. Red Righteousness

Deker peered down at the unconscious Red Ranger and sighed, shaking his head. "Seems we keep hitting snags here don't we?" he knelt down to pick up a hollowed out rock. He took the rock to the pond and scooped it full of water. He then threw the water into Jayden's face to wake him.

Jayden was jolted from his sleep and spit water out of his mouth, also wiping it from his face. "Deker?" he said, looking through the water in his eyes.

"Your friends are on their way here, as is the yellow one with your serum. You need to stay conscious until they get here or else you won't ever wake up with that venom inside your system." Deker told him.

Jayden's side was still killing him so he held it tightly. "Why…" he winced. "Why are you helping me?"

Deker turned to the weakened ranger. "I know you're not that naïve. You know I seek the ultimate duel from you, and I intend to get it." He said, aiming his sword at him, a few moments later, he slowly sheathed it. "But I am not like Master Xandred. I don't fight someone who isn't able to properly defend themselves. I want my victory to mean something…so I can be free of this curse." He explained, looking to the moon, then hanging his head.

"Healthy or not, I refuse to fight you, Deker. Fighting to me isn't a sport, it's to protect the innocent and those around me." Jayden answered between breaths.

Deker turned quickly in anger. "I'm not _asking_ you, Red Ranger." He said in an enraged voice. He then paused for a moment, looking at Jayden. He shook his head at him. "It's funny, the one that's supposed to kill Master Xandred is sitting here playing the pacifist?"

Jayden just glared at Deker with angry eyes, he had hit a nerve.

"Remember before when I told you we both have secrets festering inside of us? They taunt us day in and day out. How can you act so righteous when you're lying to your 'friends' every single day." Deker told him, pacing back and forth.

Jayden closed his eyes tightly. "It's not my…choice." He said in a pained voice.

"Keep telling yourself that." Deker replied. "How do you think they'll respond when they find out the truth?"

"Shut up." Jayden said, his anger slowly rising.

"You know they're going to find out one way or the other, you can't protect them form that." Deker went on, feeding from the Red Ranger's distress.

Jayden clasped his hands hard over his ears. "Be quiet!" he screamed, desperately trying to tune out the lone warrior's words. Suddenly, someone jumped in front of him, hitting Deker a few steps away from him.

"Leave him alone!" Emily yelled, running to Jayen's defense, she held her sword up and stood in a fighting stance. "You'd really want to fight him like _this_!?" she exclaimed.

Deker just chuckled and smirked at the yellow ranger's accusations. "Fight him?" he laughed. "I just help _save_ him." He answered.

"You're insane!" Emily shouted back at him, lunging to strike.

"I have no business here. We will meet again, Red Ranger when you've recovered. Remember what we've discussed." Deker answered, transforming into his red skull-faced and white armor, teleporting away from the scene, just missing Emily's attack.

"That was weird…" she said, putting her sword away. She then turned to Jayden and pulled out her Samuraizer and the Ivory Gardenia. "Are you doing alright, Jayden?" she asked sweetly.

Jayden just nodded, a serious look on his face. "Yeah. I'm alright." He answered, looking to where Deker had teleported away. His words about his secret were weighing heavily on him.

"Good." She answered. "Now let's get you fixed up." She said, laying the flower gently on the ground. "Symbol Power—antidote!" She then drew a yellow symbol in the air and smacked it into the Ivory Gardenia, when it hit it, it turned into the same drink that the other rangers had drank earlier. "Drink up, Jayden." She said, holding the cup to his lips, helping him drink it.

Jayden soothingly closed his eyes and slowly felt the pain leaving his body. He sighed in content, as he exhaled, a faint grey mist emitted from his chest. He went to look at his side and saw that the sting mark was now gone. He smiled at Emily when he saw his wound was healed. "Emily…you did it."

She smiled back at him, "Yeah…I guess I did." She looked into his eyes briefly and brushed his hair from his face.

He grabbed her arm gently. "Thank you." He said to her.

"Just doing my job." She answered softly.

A few moments later, the rest of the team had finally shown up.

"Jayden! Emily!" Mia called out, running over to the pair of them, hugging the yellow ranger tightly. Kevin and Mike ran to help hoist Jayden back onto his feet.

"You guys made it." Jayden said happily, his voice still tired sounding.

"He's still a little weak from the venom, but I was able to get him the flower before it got too far." Emily told them. "I can't believe you were able to find us."

"That's a long story, we'll tell you once we get you both home." Kevin answered, helping Jayden walk.

"You won't believe it when you hear it." Mike added, still stunned that the coordinates that Deker had given them were actually legit.

With that, the rangers all began the walk home, now easily being able to navigate the forest thanks to help in an unexpected place. What mattered to them now was that they had their friends back and that their leader wasn't going to be devoured by a deadly poison. For once this week, things were beginning to look up.

After the rangers had left the site, Deker emerged once more from a tree he was hiding behind. He laughed in a deep and evil voice as he watched his duel opponent walk away with the aid of his friends.

"Heal up while you can, Red Ranger." He said lowly. "Our duel is dawning closer."


	10. My Heart's Greatest Treasure

Back at the Sanzu River, Xandred was pacing around and screaming as usual. Scorp lay before him, cowering at his master before him. "Scorp!" the evil Nighlok lord yelled. "**How could you let that pathetic yellow ranger defeat you!?**"

Scorp covered his head, fearing an anger based attack was coming his way. "Sh-she had so much confidence! I wasn't planning on that! She was such a pushover before!" he said nervously. He then held up his tail that now held no stinger. "Not to mention she cut my stinger off! Now I can't poison anyone anymore!" he cried.

Xandred zapped the failed monster hard with his powers. "**You also let her get an antidote for the Red Ranger! You fool! Give me one reason why I shouldn't destroy you right here, right now!?**" he screamed in fury.

Octoroo ran up to his infuriated master and tried to stop him. "Ooh-ahh-ooh! Calm down, Master! I know Scorp was defeated by that pathetic yellow ranger, but he _did_ manage to severely weaken the Red Ranger. Even with the antidote he's going to be out of commission for a while. So if he goes to attack the other rangers, red won't be able to respond!" he explained.

Xandred growled lowly and released his zapping attack on Scorp. "**Octoroo has a point.**" He said, his seething slowly leaving him. "**I'll give you one more chance to make up for this yet another failure, but know this, if you fail me again, I won't hesitate to destroy you myself.**" He warned his minion.

Octoroo then went up to the weakened monster with his ladle full of Sanzu water, pouring it all over Scorp, the monster now feeling more power seep throughout his body. "This should be enough water for you to take out the rest of those posers. But this is the last I can give you." He told Scorp. "Now go get them!"

Scorp stood with a hop, feeling energized. "With pleasure!" he said happily, hopping out of the window of the ship.

At the other end of the ship, Dayu stood, completely oblivious as to what was going on around her. She was looking down at a small sparkling object in her hands that she seemed to be enthralled by. It was a platinum-banned wedding ring with a circular solitaire diamond set right in the middle. It was in flawless condition, appearing to have been expertly taken care of. Dayu suddenly saw a memory flash through her head.

_A beautiful brunette woman in a beautiful pink, floor length dress walked along the beach with a very handsome man. Both were dressed at accommodate the times, which was about 200 years ago. The man wore a black and white tuxedo with his chin-length hair slicked back and his beard was very neatly trimmed. This man, being none other than Deker._

_The two were holding hands and laughing—a couple in love. They looked at the sunset that made the sky a pink and orange color. This was the perfect moment._

_Deker suddenly, stopped and turned to the woman at his side. He was grinning ear to ear as he slowly reached into his pocket and got down on one knee. The girl's green eyes lit up and filled with tears upon seeing this._

_Deker opened the box and inside was the plantinum-banned diamond ring and held it before her. "My love, you are my heart's greatest treasure. Everyday spent with you is the happiest of my existence. Would you please do me the extraordinary honor, of becoming my wife?" he asked in the sweetest, most romantic voice the woman had ever heard._

_She brought her hands to her face in utter bliss. Her heart's desire was proposing marriage, and she had never been happier. "Of course I'll marry you, Deker." She said in a breathless voice._

_This made Deker smile even wider, he took the ring from the box and slid it on her left ring finger. He stared at it on her hand for a few moments before his kissed it gently._

_He stood to his feet and looked her in her eyes. He brushed a tear from her cheek and then went into kiss her. She kissed him back as lovingly as her lips could let her. _

_After their kiss he looked at her. "I love you, Ura." He said softly._

_Her bliss made her smile. "I love you too, Deker." She answered, then the two went to kiss once more._

"**DAYU!**" she heard Master Xandred scream at her, removing her from her content state. Before he could see the ring in her hand, she quickly slid it into her Harmonium, where she usually hid it from her master.

"Ye-yes, Master Xandred?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"**I said, play me some more of your music to soothe this headache! Now!**" he ordered her.

Dayu just nodded a few times and readied her musical instrument. "Yes, of course, master. I hope that my music can relieve you of some of your torment." She said, hoping that somehow it would ease some of _her_ torment as well.

With that, she began to pluck the strings of her Harmonium flawlessly. The ship was then filled with the haunting sound of sadness and beauty.

XXX

At the Shiba house, Jayden lay asleep in his bed. His eyes began to slowly flicker open as he awoke to all the rangers staring at him. He narrowed his eyes, looking at them strangely.

"What is this, my wake or something?" he asked, sitting upward.

"You're finally awake!" Emily cheered.

Ji walked up to him next. "How are you feeling, Jayden?" he asked the Red Ranger.

Jayden just shrugged. "I'm great. I feel like I could fight a Nighlok right now!" he insisted, rising from his bed, making it about three steps before staggering back to it.

"Ha, I don't think so." Antonio laughed, making him lay back down.

"Antonio's right," Kevin chimed in, "that Nighlok stole a lot of your life energy, you need to rest until you're fully recovered."

Jayden just sighed, closing his eyes in frustration. "Fine." He said coldly. Then the seven of them all jumped simultaneously when they heard the gap sensor going off. Mentor ran to the water-covered table and tapped a finger on it.

"It's Scorp, he's attacking the city again. He must want to get energy from innocent civilians now." Ji told the rangers.

"We'll stop him before he hurts anyone else." Mike said confidently. "Let's move out you guys." He said, the other rangers all nodding in agreement. As they all went to run out, Mia stopped and went back to Ji.

"Mentor, you make sure that Jayden stays in bed." Mia told him. "Everything will be okay. He just needs to rest."

Ji just nodded in response before she left with the rest of the team. He then looked over to the Red Ranger who was filled with shame and anger that he couldn't, once again, aide his team. He just glared at the ceiling and pounded the side of the bed with his fist.


	11. Victory is Ours

Meanwhile, back in the town square, Scorp ran around scaring everyone he could, for their tears made the Sanzu River rise at an alarmingly fast rate. Although monster attacks weren't foreign to the people that resided here, it still shook them to their core every time one made an appearance.

"Oh, how I love to hear humans _screaaaaam_!" The scorpion monster boasted, flipping tables that were in his path.

"Pretty soon _you're_ the one that's going to be screaming!" The Green Ranger called out, he and his other five teammates standing firmly beside him.

Scorp clapped in delight at their appearance. "Oh goody, the Power Rangers but…" he began, holding out a finger to count them. "Blue, yellow, gold, pink and….green, but no red I see. Hahaha! Guess my venom did the trick after all!"

Emily balled her fists in anger, she had a score to settle with this monster and she was going to make sure this time he didn't get away. "Now we're going to pay you back for what you did to him!" she yelled, pulling out her Samuraizer. "Let's end this, guys! Ready!?" she asked.

The others answered by pulling out their own morphers, "Ready!" they responded.

"Go, go Samurai! Hyah!" The rangers, save for gold, called out, drawing their symbols that made them morph into their ranger forms.

"Gold power!" Antonio called out, pressing a few quick numbers on his own Samuraizer, the golden symbols flying around him, enveloping his body that made him turn into the Gold Ranger.

The five rangers surrounded Scorp at all sides, each holding out their Spin Swords in preparation to strike at any second. They all walked slowly in their circle to make sure that the Nighlok couldn't find an opening and run through them.

The Blue Ranger looked to his team and nodded. "Ready rangers?" he asked them. After he saw their quick nods of response, he called out "Now!" And with that, all the rangers lunged forward, striking simultaneously with their weapons. Before their swords could connect with the Nighlok, he blinked out of sight and teleported, meaning the rangers all hit one another with their swords. The impact from their blows made them all collapse to the ground, their suits smoking slightly.

"Wow…" Mia groaned. "Looks like someone got a lot more powerful than the last time."

Emily placed a hand on her chest to ease the pain of the strike. "Yeah…and a lot faster too."

Kevin growled and used his sword to get back on his feet. "I'm sick of this freak! Jayden is counting on us and I'm not going to let him down!" he yelled. With that, he held his hand upwards, summoning his blue Hydro Bow into his hands, calling out the weapon's name. Then he aimed the arrows for Scorp and fired.

"Time to make it rain!" Scorp yelled in response, waving his hands around in a strange manner. Kevin then noticed that he was manipulating the arrows with his powers, turning them back at the rangers.

Kevin gasped, "Wait…what?" When he saw the arrows coming their way, and fast he ducked. "Look out!" he screamed to try and warn the rangers, but to no avail. All of the rangers were pelted with his own hydro arrows, including himself. All of them lay crying out in pain on the ground. They were losing this fight and fast.

"Another…hit and we're done for." Mike winced, rolling onto his back.

XXX

Jayden stood in their base with Master Ji, watching the ranger's failed battle fold out on their table screen. Seeing this and knowing he couldn't be there was like torture to the Red Ranger, it was bad enough that they were in a battle without his assistance, but seeing them get annihilated was more than he could bare.

"No…" he said in a self loathing voice. "It's because I'm not there to help them." He then felt Mentor place a hand on his shoulder.

"There's nothing you can do for them in your condition right now. You'd just be getting hurt along with them. I know this is hard for you to watch." Ji said in a kind voice.

Jayden just grew silent and closed his eyes, swallowing hard. After a few seconds, he opened them back up again. "Mentor…" he said in a low tone. "Could you please get me some water?" he asked, still not taking his eyes of the screen.

Ji nodded his head. "Of course." He answered, walking out of the room to the kitchen.

Jayden looked at his injured teammates writhing on the ground. "There's always _something_ you can do." He said to himself, grimacing as he pulled out his Samuraizer. He drew his symbol in the air with a stern face and was thrown into his ranger form.

XXX

The rangers continued to lay on the ground, unable to defend themselves any further. Scorp crept closer and closer to the rangers, preparing to end them with one final strike. His awful laugh reached all of their ears and momentarily struck fear into their hearts.

"Who's going to save you now?" he asked them in an evil voice, raising his meaty claw higher.

"That'd be me!" Jayden shouted, coming from above the Nighlok and landing hard on him with his Fire Smasher. Scorp let out a scream from the blast, his body now crackling with hot flames and fell over.

"Jayden!" Emily cried in delight at seeing her savior in red. She was so thrilled that she was able to save him earlier, because no he was able to save her, not to mention all of her friends as well.

"Hey, guys." He answered in a tired voice, resting his large sword against his shoulder. He was panting like he had been fighting for hours.

Kevin groaned as he finally made it to his feet. "What are you doing here, you're not well!" he asked his friend.

Jayden turned back towards Scorp. "No one is going to get hurt because of me, not if I can help it!" he yelled, charging at the Nighlok once more.

"Jayden, no!" Mia cried out, reaching out an arm.

"Stop this!" Antonio added, fighting to get he and his friends back on their toes as well.

Jayden just swung his sword furiously at Scorp, flames dancing all around them as the battle engaged. The flames stung against Scorp's body, however the Red Ranger was unaffected by it. Jayden contacted his sword against the Nighlok's shoulder and pinned him down.

"How!?" Scorp screamed. "How can you be this powerful after I poisoned you!?"

"I've been trained to deal with a lot worse." Jayden answered, hopping backwards, folding his Fire Smasher into a cannon shape. "Guys! Throw me your Power Discs!" he yelled, looking back to his team. Without hesitation the rangers all threw their discs to him, the circular objects falling perfectly into place in the cannon. "Five disc Beetle Cannon, ready! I'll teach you not to mess with my friends! Hyah!" he roared, firing the powerful blast at Scorp.

Scorp gulped as he watched the blast head his way. "This is going to sting!" he cried, right before it made contact. Once the blast hit be was blown into an explosion, turning into nothing more than ash and smoke. Scorp had finally been defeated once and for all.

"Whoooo!" Mike cheered in happiness. "That scorpion is toasted!" Then he and the other rangers running to Jayden as fast as their legs could carry them.

"You really did it, Jayden!" Mia said in awe, she and the others all congratulating him in various ways. "Are you alright?" she then asked.

Jayden just sighed and rested his now Spin Sword form weapon on his shoulder. "Samurai Rangers…" he began but fell to one knee and demorphed. "Victory is ours." He just looked to his friends and smiled. His powers had lasted the perfect amount of time for him to save his friends. Seeing them laugh after all the struggling made everything worth it.


	12. Things Better Left Unsaid

Xandred was more furious than ever at the Sanzu River. He was nearly tearing the ship apart with his tantrums, shooting his energy blasts all around. Bits of the ceiling crashed to the floor and the ground began to split beneath his feet.

"**That Scorp was useless!**" Xandred screamed, punching a wall beside him hard with his fist. "**Even a weakened ranger was able to defeat him! I can't believe all of this incompetence around me!**" he screamed.

Dayu stood in the corner to evade the ruins of Xandred's outburst, strumming her Harmonium in her hands. "Well, every member of the Shiba clan is insanely powerful. Best not to intimidate them." She told him.

Xandred turned to her in fury. "**Did I ask you!?**" he seethed, sending a powerful attack her way. Just before it hit her, a morphed Deker appeared in front of her, intercepting the blast with is sword, leaving Dayu and himself unaffected.

"Deker…?" Dayu asked hopefully, looking at the figure before her in awe.

Xandred lowered his arm in shock at his appearance. "**You!**" He exclaimed in a loud, infuriated voice. "**Why did you return here? My ship doesn't accommodate traitors!**"

Deker just let out a deep chuckled and lowered his sword, Uramasa. "Hmph, Dayu isn't your problem—the Red Ranger is." He told him.

"**And what business is that of **_**yours**_**?**" Xandred asked him.

Deker sheathed his sword. "With the water levels of the Sanzu River as low as it is right now, none of your monsters will have the power to defeat him. Even when he was poisoned with Scorp's venom, Red Ranger still managed to take a Nighlok down single handedly. His skills are superb, that's why I want to duel him…and free me of this curse I carry." He said.

Xandred stormed up to Deker and got right in his face—Deker didn't flinch. "**I couldn't care less about your pathetic curse!**" He screamed at Deker. "**Just take out the Red Ranger by any means necessary before he masters that Sealing Symbol Power!**"he ordered.

A moment later, Deker took out his sword once more. He looked at it in confidence. "I will not fail you or Uramasa. I shall complete my quest." He answered, jumping out of the boat in one swift motion. Dayu looked out the window and watched him fade away.

"**You'd better hope your savior succeeds in his plans, Dayu, or I won't fail to destroy him right in front of you!**" He shouted at her. He then put his hands on his head, feeling another powerful migraine coming on. "**I'm going to get more medicine. I'll tell you if I need your assistance.**" He added, walking into another section of the ship.

When she was alone, Dayu reached into her Harmonium and pulled out her ring. "Thank you…Deker." She said softly to herself, smiling on the inside.

XXX

That night, after all the other rangers had fallen asleep, Jayden lay wide awake in his bed, just staring at the ceiling, so many thoughts on his mind. He glanced over at his digital alarm clock. The blue numbers read 2:37am. He was feeling a lot better since his battle with Scorp, but his mind however was still struggling. Lifting himself out of bed, cradling his wound from Scorp with his hand, he made his way to the outdoor training area. He just looked at the full moon hanging above him, watching it's beams bounce against the water, deep in thought. He heard Deker's words echoing in his head.

"_Like I said before, we both have secrets taunting us day in and day out…._

_ "How do you think your 'friends' will react when they learn the truth?"_

"Maybe Deker is right about me." Jayden said sadly to himself.

"I wouldn't agree with that." He heard Mentor Ji say from behind him, not even turning to acknowledge his presence.

"Hello, Mentor." Jayden answered, still looking up at the sky. Out of the corner of Jayden's eye, he saw Ji hand him a glass of water, he just looked at his strangely.

"You asked for it earlier, no?" Ji asked with a small smile that soon faded.

Jayden just looked back to the water, the look on his face that of shame. "I'm sorry about deceiving you today, Mentor." He just shook his head and laughed softly at himself. "Look at me, it seems deceiving those I care about gets easier every day."

Ji had a very sad look on his face. "Jayden…I—" he began but Jayden cut him off.

"No words can soothe me right now, Ji." He said in an angry tone. Quickly feeling guilty of his sharpness, he eased his voice. "I'm sorry."

"The burden you carry is great. No other ranger was able to bear it before you, which is why Xandred is still around." He told him. "But that doesn't mean that what they did was in vain."

"I'll do it because I _have _to. I won't let myself fail, not after what everyone's been through because of me." Jayden answered. "In the end, the team protecting me is futile. I'm not going to let any of them die for me when it won't change anything. It's pointless."

Ji sighed and felt slightly maddened by Jayden's words. "Don't talk like you don't ultimately matter, Jayden. You're going through all of this because your team loves you and you love them." He reminded the Red Ranger.

Jayden closed his eyes and swallowed hard before answering. "That's why it hurts so much." He said in a emotionally pained voice. "It was bad enough when it was just you and I facing this, but now…" he hesitated. "I didn't want to get attached to them."

"The Power Rangers are a team for a reason, you all have different talents that you bring to the table. Showing compassion for your teammates is just a part of wearing that uniform." Ji told him.

"If we tell them, then at that crucial moment they'd hesitate, and that hesitating could get them destroyed." Jayden replied. "I don't need that on my conscience." He then made a fist and looked at it. "Everyone thinks I'm so strong but…I'm really just coward on the inside."

"Loving your team isn't a reflection of cowardice…but of heart." Ji said in a kind voice.

Jayden slowly opened his eyes and looked to Ji. They were very red, signaling he was fighting off tears with all his might. "How am I supposed to tell them, Ji?" he asked. "How am I supposed to tell them that, when master that when Xandred returns and I have to use that Sealing Symbol Power, all the energy it consumes is going to…kill me?"

**THE END OF SEALED PART 1**

_*Thanks so much for all of the sweet reviews and for taking the time to even read my story. Your support is always appreciated! I will be posting part 2 as soon as I can. =)_


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